The Media Services contribution to the Library Subject Guides is a selective list of video holdings in the American University Library. Filmographies are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the ALADIN catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date holdings (including VHS tapes) please refer to the library ALADIN catalog (www.catalog.wrlc.org)
Most streaming videos listed are available exclusively to AU students, staff and faculty after an online authentications by AUID#.
Here’s a small sampling of what can be found in the WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Filmography:
All’s well that ends well. 2000. 1 videodisc (141 min.). William Shakespeare’s comedy about Helena, the new wife of Count Bertram, who resorts to chicanery to win the respect and affection of her husband. DVD 3191
All’s well that ends well. 1980. The complete dramatic works of William Shakespeare. 1 streaming video (142 min.). William Shakespeare’s comedy about Helena, the new wife of Count Bertram, who resorts to chicanery to win the respect and affection of her husband. Streaming video
Hamlet The Royal Shakespeare Company Production Starring David Tennant. 2009. 1 streaming video file (215 min.). Called the greatest Hamlet of his generationby Guardian reviewer Robert McCrum, Scottish actor David Tennant headlines this edgy film version of the acclaimed 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company stage production. Tennant is supported by a host of gifted players-including the impeccable Patrick Stewart as Claudius and Oliver Ford Davies in an astonishing performance as a doddering yet strangely leonine Polonius. Modern costumes, shrewd textual abridgements, and a recurring motif of high-tech video surveillance all connect the play to 21st-century anxieties, but these attributes in no way eclipse Tennant’s forceful mixture of rage, sorrow, and manic humor. Original broadcast title: Hamlet. An Illuminations/Royal Shakespeare Company Production. (2 parts, 88 minutes and 94 minutes). Streaming video
Henry VI Part I. 2000. 1 videodisc (185 min.). A dramatization by Shakespeare of King Henry VI’s early days as king and the beginning of the long civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster. In the war with France, England is being driven off French soil. True to the popular view of the time, the French heroine Joan of Arc is characterized as a “minister of hell” and a wanton. DVD 3201
Henry VI Part II. 2000. 1 videodisc (212 min.). A drama of the civil war between The House of York and The House of Lancaster. Henry marries Lady Margaret of Anjou, but she despises him for his meekness and takes Suffolk as a lover. The new Queen, who also hates the Yorks (the White Roses), becomes the inspiration of the Lancastrians (the Red Roses). She and her followers are pitted against Richard, Duke of York, and his supporters, who include the Earl of Warwick, also known as “the King maker.”. DVD 3202
Henry VI Part III. 2000. 1 videodisc (210 min.). Concludes the King Henry VI chronicles with the War of the Roses. York, as victor at St. Albans, contemptuously forces Henry to give him succession to the crown. The merciless Margaret captures and kills York, only to be captured herself and compelled to watch as the Yorkists slay her son. In a powerful soliloquy, the vile Duke of Gloucester reveals his plans to murder Henry VI. DVD 3203
Macbeth. 1982. The complete dramatic works of William Shakespeare. 1 streaming video (148 min.). Driven by ambition and an unscrupulous wife, Macbeth murders the King of Scotland and claims the throne for himself. Haunted by ghosts and vexed by witches, he and his wife descend into the depths of madness and paranoia as they crumble beneath the weight of their crimes. Streaming video
Macbeth A Critical Guide. 1997. 1 streaming video file (33 min.). In this program, the major themes of Shakespeare’s most popular tragedy are investigated by noted experts. Analyzing key scenes from an award-winning film production, Professor Robert Smallwood of the Shakespeare Centre and Professor Stanley Wells of the Shakespeare Institute examine how the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth changes during the course of the play; how Banquo’s character serves as a counterpart to Macbeth’s; whether Macbeth’s character is at all admirable; and whether the play confirms that all tragedies are uniformly pessimistic. Host Graham MacTavish, an actor with the Stratford Shakespeare Company, establishes context and background for the play. (33 minutes). Streaming video
Macbeth Shakespeare for the Modern Age. 2003. 1 streaming video file (37 min.). This condensed adaptation of Macbeth, performed by experienced Shakespearean actors of the innovative Big Adventures Theatre Company, uses the Bard’s own immortal words to tell the story of Duncan King, head of King Enterprises, and his scheming employee, Macbeth, recently awarded the coveted Cawdor contract. After Macbeth’s fateful meeting with three saucy witches-not on the heath, but at the Heath Nightclub-the tragedy unfolds, leading to the inevitable showdown in which Macduff shoots Macbeth. E-mail, cell phones, and stretch limos all have their place in this intriguing film. Guaranteed to catch the interest of teenage and adult viewers alike. (37 minutes). Streaming video
Shakespeare in love. 1998. 1 videodisc (122 min.). When Will Shakespeare needs inspiration to break a bad case of writer’s block, a secret romance with the beautiful Lady Viola starts the words flowing like never before! There are just two things he’ll have to learn about his new love; not only is she promised to marry someone else, she’s successfully impersonating a man in order to play the lead in Will’s latest production. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 76
Silent Shakespeare. 1999. 1 videodisc (89 min). In the early days of the cinema, pioneer filmmakers created these seven charming films based on the plays of William Shakespeare. Considered a “lowbrow” medium, the fledgling movie industry sought to elevate its status by immortalizing the classics and hiring the actors of the day. Most of these early photoplays were only one or two reels long but whatever they gave up in language and length, they made up for in exuberance, cinematic artistry, visual wit and bravura acting. Some films feature original hand-stenciled color. DVD 193
Titus Andronicus. 1985. The complete dramatic works of William Shakespeare. 1 streaming video (168 min.). William Shakespeare’s tragedy set in Roman times dealing with the revenge of Titus Andronicus for the atrocities committed against his family by Tamora, the captive queen of the Goths, and her faction. Streaming video
Titus. 2000. 2 videodiscs (ca. 162 min.). Presents the story of a victorious Roman general whose rigid code of honor and duty proves to be his downfall. A shocking journey into the depths of the human heart, a place where vengeance and passion reign supreme. DVD 197
See the full two part Willam Shakespeare filmography here.